a big girl in a big world who's keeping it REAL!!

Rise Dark Girls, Rise!!!

Today I stumbled upon a trailer for a documentary, Rise Dark Girls. ( See link Rise Dark Girls- Trailer ). It was one of the most painful things to watch, but its the reality. It highlights the colour issues that us darker skinned females have among ourselves. It ranges from the texture of our hair to the shade of our skin and the thickness of our lips. Maybe it came from society’s perception of us. Maybe its a result from the “Willie Lynch Syndrome” ( See linkThe Willie Lynch Letter)

The most poignant part of the Willie Lynch letter is this segment-

“The Black Slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.

You must use the dark skinned slaves vs the light skinned slaves, and the light skinned slaves vs. the dark skinned slaves. You must us the female vs. the male and the male vs. the female. You must have your servants and overseers distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love and respect and trust only us.

Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Have your wives and children use them. Never miss opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful.”

Vybz Kartel- Jamaican Dancehall Artiste

Within the video trailer, there is a little black girl and in front of her are 5 images of faces ranging from light to dark. She pointed out that the light person is smarter and prettier and the darkest person is dumb and ugly. What is disturbing about that is that the girl is a beautiful dark skinned girl. If she is saying that now, what will happen when she looks in the mirror one day and realizes that she’s dark, will she then automatically assume that she is ugly and dumb, and not be afraid to succeed in life DESPITE her skin colour? It also makes you wonder, what did her parents tell her when she was growing up? What did the little kids in the playground tell her.
In some places, sad to say, your shade of skin can give or reduce opportunities. Some countries skin bleaching is prevalent because of the lighter is right mentality that society seems to purport. Downtown Kingston Jamaica, some are alarmed to see the prevalence of persons who bleach, and also the openness at which they do it. Famous dancehall deejay Vybz Kartel who is not only known for his music, but of recent, his bleaching. He also stated recently, if white people tan to get darker, then black people can bleach to get lighter? Seems like another excuse for skin bleaching to me.

So we blame Willie Lynch, we blame society, what about the media? What is the beauty defined by the media? Is beauty defined as dark with full lips and natural hair? Or is beauty white with smooth alabaster skin and thin lips. Maybe that was then. But now, it seems as though, the image of beauty is encompassing the aspects of coloured women that were so despised.

Back then, full luscious lips were deemed ugly. Now we have women injecting themselves with collagen implants and on the market there are new lip plumping lipsticks.

Back then, big hips and butts were frowned upon. Now, we have women getting butt implants and working hard to get an extra inch of hips and ass.

Back then, lighter was righter. Now it’s a little colour goes down nicer. There are tanning salons which gives you the Jersey Shore shade of orange, and the long lasting tanning products which gives you that beach tan with an added sparkle.

All in all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It isn’t what society tells us, media tells us or what our parents tell us. It’s what we tell ourselves at the end of the night as you apply the night cream on your skin. I am beautiful. When you tell yourself that you are beautiful, you will tell someone else, that they are beautiful.

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To be honest I can not understand why ppl want to adjust their colours. By looking to the darker beauty above (you ?) I would write it would be a pity if this colour would be bleeched. By looking to the two photos in the middle I have to write scary. Also the last pic is beautiful.
But it’s always the same. If you have curls you want to have plain hair, if you have plain hair you want to have curls and so on.
So – you are what your are and the most important thing is in the heart and in the seoul – my opinion 🙂
Take care of you !

Wow! That is really scary. I remember growing up in Jamaica in a time where people were frowned upon for bleaching their skin. Now, it seems to be the norm. I really hope some of these sisters stay strong and proud and not get sucked into the fallacy, that lighter complexion means more beauty. They are very beautiful and I hope they see that too.

Yeah. This “colour” thing is a deep issue with caucasians. For caucasians, skin colour is a real issue. The european culture always wants to consider itself superior to other cultures and races, one of the ways it does this is to mock others’ beauty and culture in an attempt to make themselves feel superior. They have been propagating this attitude for several centuries now so the hatred of non-pale skin has simply become an INTRINSIC part of their culture.
The racist attitude is sickening. It’s a caucasian DISEASE. And it has infected others too.
You’ll see caucasians trying to get darker skin by lying for hours out in the sun, going to tanning salons, and injecting their lips with fillers in an attempt to get fuller lips, and injecting their backsides with fat in order to get bigger, round butts.
Ha ha ha… basically trying to mimic our darker hues and our beautiful chocolate sisters, yet at the same time denying that our girls are truly beautiful.
It’s quite pathetic.